230: Chapter 230 Thanks to fellow Daoist, we're really lucky this time.

On the other side, inside the Nine-Orifice Stone Forest.

Jiang Changge slowly opened his eyes. The hazy, gray Chaos brilliance deep within his pupils gradually faded, returning once again to a deep, profound black.

He looked down at his right hand. In his palm, two of the five chaos stone essences had already turned into fine, grayish-white powder, which was falling rustlingly from between his fingers with the wind.

The third stone essence was less than half refined; several fine cracks had appeared on its grayish-black stone shell, and the extremely ancient and pure power of the Chaos Origin inside was still flowing slowly, emitting a dense and heavy aura.

Refining the chaos stone essence initially had taken more time than he had expected. The pale golden barrier at the edge of the canyon had completely dissipated two days ago, but because he had been immersed in the refinement, he only finished now.

Jiang Changge put the third stone essence back into the System inventory, brushed the grayish-white powder off his robes, and stood up from the blue stone.

He stretched his slightly stiff neck and scanned his surroundings, quickly locating Venerable Hantian several dozen zhang away.

The old man was sitting cross-legged under a thick stone pillar, with a small pile of stones of various sizes and shapes beside him—at a rough glance, there were no fewer than thirty or forty.

He was holding a fist-sized, crimson-gold stone gall in his hands.

He held a stone-cutting knife as thin as a cicada's wing between his fingertips. As the blade lightly sliced across the surface of the stone gall, a warm, crimson-gold light shone through the cut, making his furrowed face flicker in the light and shadow.

Venerable Hantian held the cut stone gall up to his eyes to examine it for a moment, nodded in satisfaction, casually tucked it into his sleeve, and then picked up another dusty stone from the pile beside him, continuing to work with his head bowed.

His movements were extremely practiced; from selecting the stone and cutting, to polishing and storing it, it was all done in one fluid motion. Clearly, he had repeated this countless times over the past few days.

When Jiang Changge walked up to him, Venerable Hantian had just finished cleanly peeling a completely azure stone crystal from its stone skin.

The stone crystal was about the size of an infant's fist, with liquid faintly flowing inside, emitting a refreshing, cool sensation.

Venerable Hantian held the stone crystal up to his eyes, examined it for a moment against the faint light filtering down from above the canyon, and grinned, "A Heaven Rank High Grade water-attribute stone gall. Not bad, not bad."

He tucked the stone crystal into his sleeve and then looked up at Jiang Changge. His turbid eyes swept over Jiang Changge, and he suddenly let out an "Eh," his eyebrows slightly raised. "Fellow Daoist's aura seems to have improved a bit more than before? It seems your meditation these past few days has been quite fruitful."

Jiang Changge did not deny it, simply nodding slightly. His gaze fell on the pile of stones beside Venerable Hantian, and he asked casually, "How has your harvest been these past few days, Fellow Daoist?"

Hearing this, the wrinkles on Venerable Hantian's face smoothed out a bit, and his tone carried unconcealed pride. "Thanks to you, Fellow Daoist, my luck was indeed good this time."

"Although I didn't open any Supreme grade treasures, I opened a total of seven or eight Heaven Rank items, and about a dozen Earth Rank ones."

"Look, this Crimson Flame Stone Gall is Heaven Rank Medium Grade, containing a wisp of Southern Bright Li Fire Origin inside—it's perfect for Artifact Refining. And this Azure Water Stone Crystal is Heaven Rank High Grade, containing extremely pure water-attribute spiritual energy. I intend to use it to refine a furnace of Azure Water Heart-Cleansing Pills."

As he spoke, he fished out a palm-sized, pitch-black stone from the pile and weighed it in his hand, his tone becoming even more smug. "What surprised me the most is this piece—a Heaven Rank Top Grade Obsidian Essence. Its hardness is comparable to the bones of an ancient Vicious Beast. I plan to use it to craft a protective dagger. Last time I fought an archaic remnant beast, my dagger, which I had used for over a hundred thousand years, was snapped by that beast's claw. I'm in need of a new one."

Jiang Changge listened to Venerable Hantian prattling on about his harvest over the past few days, a faint smile consistently hanging on his face.

Although the old man spoke modestly, his appearance of showing off a treasure clearly meant he was waiting for some praise.

So, following Venerable Hantian's lead, he nodded and said, "Seven or eight Heaven Rank items—Fellow Daoist, this trip to the Nine-Orifice Stone Forest can be considered a full harvest."

Venerable Hantian laughed, tucked the last stone into his sleeve, brushed the stone dust off his gray robes, and stood up from the ground.

His gaze crossed Jiang Changge and landed on the edge of the bottomless canyon. The smile on his face gradually faded, replaced by a rare gravity.

"Fellow Daoist, do you really intend to go down?"

Venerable Hantian's voice was deeper than before, and his tone lacked the ease and pride of when he was counting his harvest, instead carrying a faint, lingering worry.

"The last time I went down there, I had to retreat after staying at the bottom of the valley for less than an hour. The suppressing force there is extremely strange; the deeper one goes, the more stagnant the circulation of Immortal Qi becomes, and my protective Immortal light was almost crushed."

He paused, his turbid eyes staring straight at Jiang Changge, his tone becoming more solemn. "More importantly, in the depths of that valley, I sensed an extremely ancient and dangerous aura. That aura made even a Red Dust Immortal like me feel a hint of the danger of death, so I do not intend to go down again."

After listening, Jiang Changge's expression remained as calm as water.

He stepped to the edge of the canyon, stood with his hands behind his back, and looked down into the ten-thousand-foot abyss below, which was shrouded in mist.

The cliff walls on both sides of the canyon were embedded with stone galls and stone crystals of various sizes, emitting twinkling fluorescent light in the dim darkness, like an inverted galaxy in the night sky.

The churning thick fog at the bottom of the valley, however, was like the gaping maw of some dormant giant beast, swallowing all light and making it impossible to see anything.

"No matter." Jiang Changge's voice was not loud, but it carried an unquestionable certainty. "If there is danger, I have my own ways to escape."

Venerable Hantian looked at his calm and composed demeanor, opened his mouth as if he wanted to persuade him a few more times, but swallowed the words.

He simply took out a palm-sized jade talisman from his sleeve and handed it to Jiang Changge. His tone carried a bit of helplessness and a bit of concern. "This is a sensing jade talisman I crafted myself. If Fellow Daoist encounters any danger you cannot handle at the bottom of the valley, crush this talisman. I will sense it immediately and think of a way to support you."

Jiang Changge took the jade talisman, feeling its warm and smooth texture. The surface of the talisman was engraved with fine formation patterns, and there were faint fluctuations of Space Law flowing through it.

He tucked the jade talisman into his sleeve and nodded slightly to Venerable Hantian. "Thank you, Fellow Daoist."

Having said this, he said no more, turned to face the bottomless canyon, and his robes snapped in the wind blowing up from the bottom of the valley.

Then, under the complex gaze of Venerable Hantian, he leaped, plummeting toward the bottom of the valley like a white shooting star.